


Darkest Days

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 01:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9268199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: Henry looks back on the dark years of pain and loss, and on the true friends who helped him through those dark days.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [klutzy_girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy_girl/gifts).



> Also meets **Smallfandomfest** FEST20

Kim had meant everything to Henry, especially when they reconnected after all those years stolen by a man he had truly believed was a friend. A good friend.

Jason had tried to justify what he had done but the horror of it still caused Henry sleepless nights. It was an uncharitable thought for him, but as far as Henry was concerned Jason Anderson could rot in hell. Henry couldn't even imagine the years of abuse Jason must have put Kim through. How many times had she discovered the truth and tried to walk away, only to have her mind wiped so she would stay? How many times had Jason poured hate and scorn on her, telling her she was wanted only for her expertise just so Jason could claim all the credit for her work? Jason had always loved the ladies, preferring a new conquest each night. So, how many times had he slept around with those who admired him for Kim's amazing work, wiping her mind if she ever discovered the truth? How often had she felt the horror and shock of his betrayal before he took it all away in a press of a button so he could carry on using her?

Jason Anderson deserved to be in prison for what he had done, not given a final pay check and told to disappear or be revealed as a monster and a thief. He had mind raped and physically raped the woman Henry had always loved, and it shocked him to realize Jason must have mind wiped him too, making him forget every precious moment he and Kim had shared. Perhaps a first kiss, or a first proclamation of love. Kim had adored white orchids, and perhaps Henry had bought her flowers and Jason had taken them from him, presenting them to her as a gift to win her over. Of course she could recall none of it and neither could he because of the short term memory mind wipe device, stealing their life away minutes at a time.

Yet what hurt most was knowing he had been the one to hand Jason the means of causing such harm to someone he loved. He had invented the device but believed it had never worked and had subsequently been discarded... until Jack pointed out he was likely Jason's first victim.

"And Nathan thought Jack was crazy talking of mind wiping devices."

All those brilliant minds across the years and it was Jack who had proved them all wrong. Even Nathan felt some begrudging respect for Jack once he realized how the whole of the scientific community had been duped by Jason. Nathan had done what he could to strip Jason of any patents he'd stolen from Kim, but anything more would have also revealed the existence of Henry's mind-wipe device. Having seen its potential to do harm, they both realized it was too dangerous for it to fall into the wrong hands.

Yes, Henry had loathed Jason with every fiber of his being and he didn't think he could be capable of hating anyone else with such ferocity until the day Jack stopped him from saving Kim following the disaster with the Artifact. Not only had he lost the chance to save her but, according to Jack, he also lost four years of precious memories where they had been together before the fractured time stream had started to disintegrate. It didn't even register that Jack had lost just as much - four precious years with Allison, and a child he would never seen born. All Henry could focus on was how his so-called friend had held him back, hearing the love of his life ripped away from him in an explosion that rocked Global Dynamics.

He couldn't forgive Jack at the time, taking a moment to vent his frustration, anger, and resentment on the hapless man before wiping away all of Jack's memories of those bittersweet four years with Allison. Yet, all he had seen from Jack then was understanding and compassion, and after the mind wipe, when Jack no longer remembered how he had stopped Henry from saving Kim, Jack remained a loyal and true friend even when Henry was less than friendly in return.

Henry blamed Nathan too, and it wasn't until he found the video security feed showing Beverly Barlowe placing something under Kim's console just hours before the experiment that he realized neither man had been to blame.

His anger had taken him down a darker path, but Jack never stopped trying to be a friend. Of all of the people Henry had helped and befriended over the years, only Jack visited him regularly in prison, and recalling Henry's sadness as he stared at the windowless walls of his high security cell, Jack even gave him a sunset. It didn't matter that he was just a projection standing in the biosphere hundred of meters below Global Dynamics. It was still the most glorious sight he'd seen in months and he had Jack to thank for it, and also on Nathan and Zane, as their joint influence on Eva Thorne had Henry pardoned and brought back to Eureka.

All good friends who had stood by him through the darkest days of his life, when he truly believed he would never feel that love, passion, and adoration for another woman; that there could never be another Kim in his life.

And then he met Grace.

Henry had always been a firm believer in the balance of the universe, that everything worked out the way it was supposed to be... in the end. Changing the time line back in 1947 had not brought back Kim or Nathan, but it gave him a chance to meet a remarkable woman and fall in love again.

Years later, with the town no longer in danger of being dismantled, Henry looked around Cafe Diem at the friends he had made. He saw the happiness glowing in Jack's eyes, knowing how much the uncertain future had worried his friend, and rejoicing in the news of the child Allison carried - Jack's child. Barring any more wormholes, or alternate universe, he hoped Jack would finally get to meet this child.

As they raised their glasses to celebrate, Henry made his own silent toast to good friends and loved ones; to those who had stood by him when he walked in darkness, and brought him safely back into the light.

END  
 


End file.
